As the Web evolves, people invent new words to describe its features and applications. Sometimes, a term gains widespread acceptance even if some people believe it’s misleading or inaccurate. Such is the case with Web operating systems.
An operating system (OS) is a special kind of program that organizes and controls computer hardware and software. Operating systems interact directly with computer hardware and serve as a platform for other applications. Whether it’s Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac OS X, your computer depends on its OS to function.
That’s why some people object to the term Web OS. A Web OS is a user interface (UI) that allows people to access applications stored completely or in part on the Web. It might mimic the user interface of traditional computer operating systems like Windows, but it doesn’t interact directly with the computer’s hardware. The user must still have a traditional OS on his or her computer.While there aren’t many computer operating systems to choose from, the same can’t be said of Web operating systems. There are dozens of Web operating systems available. Some of them offer a wide range of services, while others are still in development and only provide limited functionality. In some cases, there may be a single ambitious programmer behind the project. Other Web operating systems are the product of a large team effort. Some are free to download, and others charge a fee. Web operating systems can come in all shapesand sizes.
In metacomputing, WebOS and Web operating system are terms that describe network services for internet scale distributed computing, as in the WebOS Project at UC Berkeley,and the WOS Project.In both cases the scale of the web operating system extends across the internet, like the web.
However, the terms WebOS and Web operating system have been employed more broadly and with far greater popularity in the context of “the web as in HTTP”, and for many meanings ranging from singular systems to collections of systems. In April 2002, Tim O’Reilly spoke of “the emergent Internet operating system” as an open collection of Web services.
Common to uses for collections of systems, a Web operating system is distinct from Internet operating systems in that it is independent of the traditional individual computer operating system. This conception of the system reflects an evolution of research in the field of operating systems into the increasingly minimized (for example, TinyOS and Exokernel) and distributed (for example, Inferno), and for distributed systems increasingly defined in terms of the specification of their network protocols more than their implementations
In a usage referring to singular network services, a Web operating system is another name for a Webtop. These services turn the desktop into a service that runs on the Internet rather than on the local computer. As these services include a file system and application management system, they increasingly overlap with the functionality of a traditional desktop computer operating system.
In a usage referring to desktop (or handheld) computer application environments, a Web operating system is a traditional operating system that is focused on supporting Web applications themselves, or a desktop operating system solely providing Web access. Systems like these also are known as kiosks.
Some Web OS are :
eye OS
Windows4all
Desktop.com
ruchit Said:
on July 15, 2009 at 7:55 pm
niceli written
motu